Brave Work

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Seth Godin's recent blog, If your happiness is based on always getting a little more than you've got..." suggests that by following the "system" you have unwittingly turned your happiness over to the gatekeeper and "prevented yourself from the brave work that leads to a quantum leap."

 

Think about education.  

What is the message underlying the daily experiences of children in school?

 

Is it reinforcing those behaviors and attitudes that equate fulfillment and happiness with high scores and awards? 

Or is it guiding children to develop their unique potential, embracing learning as the path towards a lifetime of doing their "brave work?"

 

 

 

What More Could You Want for Your Child?

Lynn A. Weddle wrote this in 2003:

For me, the three most important benefits of continuing Montessori education through eighth grade is that our children develop respect, self-confidence and a desire to learn.  

One of the many advantages of a Montessori education, is the sense of respect our children develop and continue to demonstrate to each other.

• Montessori educated children learn compassion and empathy early on by nurturing others and being nurtured because of the mixed age groupings of each classroom.  This is not to say they never have disagreements—they do—but Montessori students learn to constructively work things out and move on--a great life-time skill.  This becomes particularly important in the latter elementary and middle school years.  Given the small classroom sizes, Montessori students cannot just “drop out” and become anonymous when conflict arises.  These students learn to work together and respect each other’s differences—another great life-time skill.

 Montessori educated children also develop a terrific sense of self-confidence. 

• In Brickton’s toddler classroom, my young daughter was encouraged to put on her own clothes and shoes (even if they ended up on the “wrong” feet!) and she felt such a tremendous sense of accomplishment.  At age 2 ½, we were no longer permitted to dress her!  Cleaning up their lunch tables, helping to shovel snow or plant flowers and even now, for my daughter, being encouraged to make her own lunch (at age 7) creates a strong “I can do it” attitude.  I have seen the effects of this not only in my child, but in the middle school students when they are taking breakfast orders and serving during Planet Coffeewood* mornings.  They conduct themselves with such poise and confidence that we “patrons” cannot help but be very impressed and encouraged for our own future middle school students!

 The continued desire to learn is truly a wonderful “legacy” that Montessori educated children benefit from.

• Because the classroom environment is self-directed and the Montessori works are self-correcting, children are not passively learning or being required to sit still at a desk and all receive the same information at the same time.  In a Montessori classroom, it’s hands on—a sense of discovery and mastery on their own—with individual direction or guidance from the Directress.  They’re taught to problem solve by understanding the big picture first, then the parts.   A directress explained it to me this way:  “Imagine getting hundreds of puzzle pieces and you have no idea what the picture is that you’re trying to form…with Montessori, children are presented with the picture first so that they clearly understand what they’re doing with the bits and pieces.  In this way, these kids don’t easily get bored---they’re actually excited about going to school!

 Respect, self-confidence and a life-long desire to learn…what more could you want for your child?

* Planet Coffeewood - a student-run business

Lynn's daughter, Lily, graduated from Brickton Montessori School in 2011.

Make mine Montessori

The purpose of Montessori education is not to produce a disordinate number of student's with test scores in the 90th percentile.

The PURPOSE of MONTESSORI EDUCATION is to enable children to become accustomed "to considering those who surround them as a source of help to explore the world," and to grow to be adults who have a new understanding of humanity.

"The new education must foster a new understanding of the real values of humanity and gratitude must be felt for those workers upon whom human life depends. If man is not appreciated, if there is no veneration for human life, how can we expect or hope that men will become friends and work in peaceful collaboration?" Maria Montessori

What kind of educational environment do you want for our children?  Education that is driven by a test score or education that is driven by respect for human life?

It's a problem-Where is the evidence for Montessori?

It is time to come together as Montessori schools to make a persuasive public argument for Montessori.

At the recent AIMS Chicago Winter Conference, Trevor Eissler, author of Montessori Madness, spoke frankly about the need for Montessori schools to purposely and collectively make itself part of the conversation about education. 

John Long, in a recent post on his blog Education By Design , summarizes Steven Hughes',(PHD, pediatric neuropsychologist) recent presentation at the AMI Refresher Course about building the evidence for Montessori schools.

Here's Dr. Hughes hypothesis: 'Montessori schools can demonstrate that their students develop more advanced social skills, creativity, self-control, intrinsic motivation, executive functioning and moral reasoning than do their counterparts in conventional schools – without sacrificing academic performance.'

Background: Unlike conventional schools, Montessori schools care about more than test results. Yes, Montessori schools do care about cognitive development and academic learning; but their first aim is to create positive learning communities in order to develop creative, self-motivated young people who are kind and compassionate, who demonstrate high levels of self-control and self-management, and who work well with others. Just like academic achievement, growth in these areas can be measured. The instruments are out there and are used all the time by neuropsychologists, developmental psychologists, cognitive psychologists, educational psychologists, and educational researchers.

Dr. Hughes is launching a national research project to collect this data over the next five years.

Here are some examples of norm-referenced assessments of social skills, creativity (or this alternative), internal vs external motivation (locus of control), executive functioning, and moral judgment. These are examples of the skills that Dr. Hughes suggests we test over the next 5 years in order to confirm what we know: that Montessori students do better in these areas than students in conventional schools. That is why parents often say, “Montessori kids are different.” This will tell us HOW they are different…and measure it in ways that can be described.

Here's the video of Dr. Hughes presentation.

Yes, it is over an hour.

It is worth every minute of your time.

The Maker Movement

Have you heard of the MAKERS?  MAKE's founder Dale Dougherty  was featured on The Next List (CNN).

"MAKE celebrates your right to tweak, hack, and bend any technology to your will."

 It's about us-ordinary people and the various things we make -to fill a need, investigate a question, to tinker, or just to have fun. 

It's about life-long learners (young and old) engaged in the process of questioning, creating and discovering! 

Supporting Children With Life-Threatening Allergies

Judy Beyer, Brickton's Middle School teacher, has been at Brickton for 24 years.  Over the years, she has noted the increased number of children with allergies.  She recently sent me a link to a blog written by Sarah Boudreau, The Allergist Mom. 

As the  mother of 3 (of 4) children with life threatening food allergies and a pediatrician who completed her fellowship in Allergy/Immunology, Sarah shares her knowledge and daily experiences facing the challenges of living with life-threatening food allergies. 

I have a lot to learn so I am adding her blog to my list of favorites.  

Deep in my heart

I do believe, we shall overcome someday."

 

 

 

 

In honor of Martin Luther King, with hopes that every person will take the time to listen, and make NOW the time. NOW IS THE TIME Now is the time.